Digital Forensic Science deals with the identification, preservation and extraction of magnetically encoded evidence from computer storage media and the documentation of the findings using legally accepted methods and procedures. It essentially relies upon the inherent security weaknesses of computer operating systems to identify and extract data that is usually unknown to the computer user. Other popular and descriptive names include: Electronic Document Discovery, Computer Risk Assessment and Computer Forensics. E-discovery (ESI) digital forensic technologists identify, preserve and extract magnetically encoded evidence from laptop, servers, cell phones and other devices.

Often the computer user that created the evidence does not know the evidence exists. Many times ‘electronic finger prints’ are left in bizarre and unexpected areas.

Potential computer evidence (data) is many times password protected and/or encrypted. It can also be compressed or encoded.

Frequently the computer evidence (data) is in the form of ‘data fragments’ that may include binary data, which potentially precludes the viewing or printing of the data without the use of special software and/or filtering methods.

Digital Evidence Collection in Electronic Discovery

Litigation in today’s world involves evidence stored in computers, cell phones and computer networks. The tremendous amount of electronic evidence involved in civil and criminal litigation necessitates that your digital evidence be handled in a forensically sound manner to avoid inadvertent loss of data or spoliation of evidence. Our EnCE certified examiners and consultants have the technical expertise and experience to perform onsite acquisitions of laptop, servers, cell phones and other devices in response to ESI discovery production requests.

Our digital forensic technologists utilize an examination protocol that was originally developed for law enforcement and has become the industry standard. The methodology identifies, preservers and extracts magnetically encoded evidence from computer storage medium. Using a variety of methods and processes, we are able to search the data for evidence that maybe relevant to your case or investigation. The findings are then documented using legally accepted methods and procedures.

Data Discovery and Hard Drive Analysis

Once digital evidence has been obtained in a forensically sound manner, our digital forensic examiners can begin to determine the relevance of the digital information as it relates to your case even in instances where:

• Data has been intentionally or accidentally deleted

• File names have been changed or disguised

• The computer hard drive has been reformatted

• Computer files have been password protected or hidden

Deleted Data Elimination

Business professionals that are entrusted with confidential corporate information are unaware that sensitive information “spills” over into areas on a computer hard drive such as file slack, swap files and unallocated space. Deleted files or remnants of a deleted file can be transferred to others without the user knowledge. The simple process of e-mailing a Word document to a co-worker or business associate reveals information called “meta-data” that can be potentially useful during the discovery phase of litigation.

We offer the ability to securely eliminate all traces of deleted files from your computers without affecting the function of the licensed software applications installed on your computer.

Electronic Document Retention Policy Consulting

Outdated e-mails, old electronic spreadsheets and documents and archived data stored on backup tapes are sometimes kept for months or years past their useful lives. Current case law is revealing that unwieldy preservation of all electronic data and documents that are created in the normal course of business operations have the potential to haunt a corporation when a lawsuit is filed.